Read The Adoration of Jenna Fox for Free Online Page A

have a talk with you, though, so I'll be going. Talk to you tomorrow."
He clicks off.
    A talk. She frightens me with her control and
sureness. I don't want to talk, but I am sure we will. Claire commands and it
happens.
    "Sit down," she says.
    I do.
    Lily walks out of the pantry and leans against
the counter, her own busyness suddenly gone out of her. Mother looks like she
is going to regurgitate last night's dinner.
    "You're starting school tomorrow,"
she says. "It's only at the local charter. It's the closest one, so you
can walk for the days that they meet. Their emphasis is ecosystem studies, but
there is nothing I can do about that. It will just have to do. The others are too
far, too crowded, and too —well, they simply
need too many forms that we can't provide right now. You're all registered, and
they're expecting you. Unless you've changed your mind about going to school."
    After a long pause I realize her last sentence is
a question. "No," I answer. "I haven't changed my mind." I
am still backtracking, trying to absorb everything she has thrown at me.
School? Tomorrow? I thought it was out of the question. How did this happen? I
pause in sorting out the turnaround, and I finally notice her.
    Her eyes are glassy puddles.  Her hands
rest in her lap, weakly turned upward. The steady stream of words has ended,
and she looks spent from the effort.
    "Are you happy?" she asks.
    I nod. Is it a trick? This is not what she
wants. What is she really trying to do? "Yes. Thank you," I
say. She pulls me close, and I feel her uneven breaths against my neck. Her
grip is tight and I think she won't let go but then she pushes back my
shoulders and she smiles. The limp hands tighten, the eyes blink, and with a
deep breath she summons the infinite control that is Claire's. "I'm
meeting with carpenters this morning, but I will talk to you more about it this
afternoon." She hesitates for a long moment, then adds, "The rain's
stopped. Why don't you go out for a walk while you can?" Her face is pale.
    A walk, too?
    I can't respond. All I can think of is the
gilded figure hanging on the wall in Lily's church. Mother's lifeblood is
flowing out of her.
    "Thank you," I say again and head for
the door, but before I leave the room, I see Lily close her eyes at the kitchen
sink and her hand brushes her forehead, her heart, and finally each shoulder.
     
     
    Plea
    I hear sobbing.
    And then a hail Mary.
    I hear a mumbling of prayers.
And bargaining, too.

    Jesus. Jesus.
    Je sus.
    Pleading and moaning.

    In the darkest place that revisits
me over and over again.
    And for the first time I recognize
the voice.
    It is Lily.
     
     
    A Walk
    I am out the door in seconds. I am going to
school. Tomorrow. I hurry down the walkway. Will Mother change her mind? I
glance over my shoulder to make sure she is not following me. Freedom. It
feels as crisp and breezy as the open sky. But then I remember her pale face.
Her tentative decision. My pace quickens. Distance is my savior. I flee from my
closed world into one I haven't met yet.
    Them.
    Mother said it could be dangerous. For
them. Is she afraid I will hurt others? My classmates? I wouldn't. But
maybe the old Jenna would? Did I hurt Kara and Locke? Is that why they aren't
my friends anymore?

    There is Mr. Bender. He counts as a
friend. I will visit him.

    With the swelling of the creek, I can't
pass between our yards, so I follow the streets around to his house. I don't
know his address or what his house looks like from the front, but I know, like
ours, it is the last house on his street.

    Even though the rain has stopped, the
gutters are still like small rivers. Leaving our sidewalk to walk in the
street, I must leap to get over the expanse. I walk down the middle of the
road. The air smells of wet soil and eucalyptus. This time tomorrow I will be
in school. I will be making more friends. I will be owning a life. The life of
Jenna Fox. It will be mine, whatever that may be.

    Our neighbor's house, the